


Lost words

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-04 09:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 7,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10987770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: A series of one-word promptsLast ones added:AngryComfortableLanguidPubicPublicWhispersNeedlesMoonlightGardenIncredulousUndeniableLunchEuphoriaGuitarMagic





	1. Flickering

 

She watched as the woman in front of her swallowed, her throat covered in a flimsy film of sweat that caused the pale skin to glisten as she, herself, swallowed down the already too warm drink. The bitter taste made her wince inwardly as green warm eyes fluttered close only to be opened again as the shadow of a hiccup erupted from the woman’s lips, a ghost of a smile drawing on her own lips as she kept staring, elbow on the counter and shot glass dangling between her thumb and middle finger.

She knew she needed to back off, to sit with her back as straight as possible and away from the tantalizing smell of the other woman’s magic, its scent faint but present, still real, still there. She, however, didn’t want to move away, not when the whiff of that magic had started to disappear ever since the day of the ceremony. A light, she reasoned as she refilled their shot glasses, laugh escaping her lips as she kept locking at the flecks of blue and gold on that green, that had been wavering, a light that had started to die down. A light she very much couldn’t phantom to not be there one day.

Not after everything they had both shared, not after everything they were for the other, for what they had become.

Her hand rose in a poor attempt of a toast and Emma mirrored her movements, magic crackling on her fingertips, alive and real and dancing beneath her skin, running up Regina’s arm as she finally traced the veins on the woman’s right hand once she put down the shot glass with a thud that resounded louder than what it really was. She traced every ridge and line, her own magic answering to it, seeing it flickering beneath her tips, interlacing with her own on purple and dirty white dots until nothing but gold could be seen.

“I need to go.” She heard but she didn’t let go and Emma didn’t pull away either, the burn on her throat staying as she finally covered the ring, that awful ring she had learnt to hate with her own hand, the metal cold against her palm, against her magic-induced daze.

Magic that titillated inside her chest, inside Emma’s as she kept staring, kept looking at every line, every dot, every stray hair, every freckle and every curve. There, there but not there, not as there as she would love to.

“Stay.”

The word was out even before she realized she wanted to say it, blurting out of her and painting the air in purple crackling lines that touched Emma’s cheeks as the blonde shivered, throat glistening, planes and ridges painted on their shadows with that very same power Regina could see dying.

“Stay.” She, however, repeated, hand grasping Emma’s, fingers interlaced as she saw the magic reaching out to hers, blinking and dying, raising and falling.

“Stay.”


	2. Love

It was implicit in their shared silence and oi their glances, in the way they didn’t say each other’s name but was still there, written on their stares and lips as an ever present spell. It was in the trust they shared, on the family they had and in every single time they fought over each other’s well-being. It was in their magic and in the way it crackled and jumped beneath their fingers as they fought together, always together.

It was in the dreams and nightmares only them were able to understand, it was in the whispers they shared as they waited for Henry to return from a date, on how they worried over and protected each other. It was in the shared meals and the times they pretended to not remember each other’s favorites even though they did. It was in the drinking dates they had every now and then and the shared smiles and laughter sometimes one was able to hear coming from the two of them in those dates.

It was in the fact that they listened to the other and the moment when Henry went to university only them both crossed the town line with him, bickering the whole way but doing their own road trip after he was safe and sound on his campus. It was in every secret they shared and the way Regina felt devastated the day Emma told her that she couldn’t keep anymore with Hook. It was in the tears she shed once she found that Emma had left with a note only for her and Henry, with words of regret and pain and plea ebbed between the lines. It was in the rage and then unwavering faith that the woman would return.

It was in the fact that she, finally, did so. With a few more grey hairs and a wrinkle or two but those same green eyes and that same crocked smile and that same hi.

It was in the fact that neither of them were taught how to back when they had been younger but they still did. It was in the fact that the first time Emma whispered “I love you.” Regina answered with a chuckle and kiss. “As I do. And I have for a very long time.”


	3. Lego

Yello, blue, red, red, blue, yellow, green

Green, yellow, blue, blue, red

Red, green…

The small blocks kept piling up in front of the toddler whose stuck out tongue and crinkled forehead made his older sister to crack a smile of her own as she put block after block on his eager hands. The construction had already lost all its purpose but the way Neal kept putting more blocks was endearing. Chuckling to herself, the blonde nudged his hand with one block just as his bottom lip wobbled in thought.

“Less than an hour and already making fun of him?” The sound of a feminine voice startled her enough for her to turn, Neal snatching the block out of her hand as she did so. Pouting towards a smirking Regina Emma rose to her feat, hands on her back pockets. She had closed her parents’ door after entering, she was sure of that and the air didn’t hold the magical tingles she always felt around her whenever Regina magicked herself in. Realizing the still dangling keys on the former queen’s left hand she let out a small laugh as she approached her.

“I wasn’t making fun of him.” She replied, doing her best to smooth her pout and failing considering the breathy chuckle that came from the older woman.

“I’m sure of that, dear.” The brunette replied, leaning in and kissing Emma’s lips once before moving closer to Neal, the toddler’s face breaking into a giant smile as he saw her.

“R’gina!”

“Very well, Neal, now let’s show your sister how this is done, shall we?”

The toddler nodded, not really caring about what he had just agreed to. Emma was sure that if Regina looked at her with that same face she would also probably say yes to practically everything. More than sure she knew she was completely unable to say no to the older woman.

“Cheater” She muttered under breath, her own smile betraying her words as she crouched next to the other two.

“Pass me a green block dear.”

“On it.”


	4. Peek-a-boo

She watched as the brunette played with the infant, soft smile on place as Snow watched alongside with her, same smile on her as they glanced at the former Queen coo and kiss the toddler’s head. She listened to the woman’s voice as it turned from its usual deep to a slightly high-pitched version, biting down the laughter that threatened to go pass her lips, her teeth digging on them as she watched, hand over her cheek, thinking as she her other hand wrote idly on the surface of her unlit phone.

She felt like craving something she wasn’t supposed to really want and for that she let her eyes wander before setting on the coffee table in front of her in where two slowly cooling coffee cups awaited, the handle of one of them forever stained by two red small fingertips.

Light, she realized as she looked back at her mother, the woman cooing alongside with Regina now. She felt light, at ease and for that she closed her eyes as she let her breathing relax, her magic swirling on the back of her conscious mind as she kept listening to the chatter of the two women, of Henry eventually when the teen came down from the room that had been hers, homework finished and something new to tell on his still changing voice. Of her father when he returned from his shift, answering to the kiss on her temple with a grunt of her own, eyes opening again only to rub them as the world came into focus.

Light, she realized. That’s how she wanted to feel.

That night she gave a ring to a pirate.

That night she called Regina.

That night she fell asleep as she thought again on that peek-a-book game and smiled.


	5. Opia

_Opia: the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable_

The interior of the bar was clean but worn, the soft edges of the leather of the stools telling stories Emma couldn’t really decipher but seemed to ebb from them. The walls were covered in pictures and sepia-colored memorabilia and as she walked inside, closer to the wooden counter, she could smell in the air the rich scent of magic. Faded, not as present, but still tingling, still there. A scent she hadn’t forgotten, not after all the time that had passed.

She caressed the faint line on her finger, the place where a ring once had been as she moved to her right, letting a patron pay and turn around as he waved carelessly at a table she wasn’t able to see. The scent was stronger as she did so, filling her lungs as she walked past him towards the wooden counter in where the tarnished material welcomed her hands as she found an empty stool, still not really focusing her gaze into anything but ahead, her irises lost on the array of bottles and colors, silver, reds and browns dotting her sight until they watered.

She could feel some movement at her left, at the other side of the counter; the echo of a voice she hadn’t forgotten either and the heat of a gaze she could feel writing on her skin. It wasn’t, however, until Regina stopped in front of her she truly allowed herself to see her, remembering, stupidly, the way the brunette had looked at she, at Henry, when they had come back from New York.

This Regina, however, wasn’t the one that had trusted in her after a year of not seeing the boy, implicitly, but someone else and the worry etched on her features, bathing her eyes into something she couldn’t really read, was very different and yet not at all from the one the woman she had last seen when she had abandoned Storybrooke had thrown at her.

This Regina wasn’t a mayor, wasn’t the woman she had finally ended up her marriage for and yet when she finally looked at her Emma felt at ease as she took on her features, on the way her eyes narrowed like every time Regina -her Regina- would do when she was about to ask her a question.

 “What I can get you?”

Her voice was slightly lower, perhaps even hoarse but there was a musicality there that was enough for Emma to feel at home, to feel the comfortable sensation of having finally crossed the threshold as scared as she felt.

And so she smiled, not really breaking eye contact, not daring to.

“Surprise me.”

Regina tilted her head and pursed her lips, just a tad, enough for Emma to know she had been caught off ward. The next question, however, was enough to make her laugh.

“Do I know you?”

“Once upon a time perhaps.”


	6. Pubic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by emakaylee on tumblr

Nails rapping on her left thigh, Regina stared down at were Emma was, comfortably knelt between her legs, an impish smile on her lips. One she found herself answering with a smirk on her own. Smirk that was quickly replaced by a slack jaw as the tapping fingers grew bolder, climbing through her thigh until they settled on her mound, an inch above her clit.

She was taking too long, she thought, the cold metal of the razor the blonde hold on her other hand quickly warming against her skin.

Tight dark curls about to be shaved, Regina arched her back, the tiles of the bathroom wall a welcome touch on her flushed skin and she rolled her eyes at her own eagerness and Emma’s chuckle; green eyes glowing with white-colored swirls.

“You are enjoying this far too much.” She muttered, eyes narrowing but chin falling to her chest as Emma, softly, sweetly almost approached the razor to her sex, the first sweep being quickly followed by a slight caress, one that made Regina’s muscles go slack, her balance changing dangerously on the border of her bathtub.

Alone, she thought, fingers clutching the white edge as Emma swiped the razor again, smile still curving her lips, she did this clinically and barely not paying it any mind. Sometimes she used magic to aid her hands, some others she didn’t. Now, however, with Emma’s hand slowly caressing her skin, the other moving the razor in slow yet practiced swipes, she felt her chest flushed, her throat dry.

“Aren’t you as well?” Emma’s answer was barely a whisper, her lips closer all of a sudden to her skin, her breath a tickle on Regina’s inner thigh, close, way closer than before.

“Cheater.” She managed to reply, her own magic glowing purple and sparking around them, the ozone scent it always brought with it eliciting a quick sparkle on Emma’s own naked skin. She had agreed to this, she thought, the intimacy, the ease, something she welcomed.

Emma’s cockiness however…

Well, she also liked it.

Clitoris throbbing, she willed her throat to not give away the whine she could feel building on her chest, the idea of Emma licking her, tasting her, the only thing she could suddenly think off.

The clang of the razor falling startled her, Emma’s hands pushing her legs so she could sit more comfortably on the bathroom’s floor, however, didn’t. Perhaps, she thought off-handedly, one hand already on Emma’s neck, fingers grasping blonde locks, because she had imagined this a thousand times already.

And, besides, she could always shave what Emma hadn’t touch later.


	7. Public

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by waknatious on tumblr

Set o 615 if I’m remembering the numbers correctly.

* * *

Regina hummed as she drank, eyes shining on the dimmed lights of Aesop’s pub and Emma swallowed, feeling her throat closing around the words she had tried to admit the second Regina had stared at her, smoky eyes stripping her bare with the cold beer still on her mouth.

Eyes that were calling for hers, she realized with the tip of her tongue pressing against her teeth, a nervous tic she tried to stop as Regina smiled slowly; warmth radiating out of her, worry still etching on her features.

“Emma…” She begun, slowly, her right arm outstretched, her fingers grazing Emma’s knuckles. A caress the blonde found herself focusing on, her skin tight, taut, as she stared, wishing, willing her own hand to move and grab Regina’s hand with hers.

It could be the beer, she reasoned with herself, Regina’s eyes still calling for her as she realized that the brunette was still waiting for her to answer.

“I…” She halted, Snow’s voice suddenly too loud on her ears as the woman happily screamed something neither of them was able to discern. The scream, however, was enough to make her blink, letting inside all the smells and sounds she had purposely chosen to forget that were there, her senses overwhelmed with Regina’s magic, with the way it clung to her, mixing with hers.

“You…?” The brunette was now smiling, a lopsided smile Emma couldn’t look away from it, the music, the voices, fading away once again, the touch of the polished wood beneath her fingers and Regina’s almost caress anchoring her as she leant over her side of the counter, the edge cutting almost painfully onto her diaphragm.

“I want to kiss you.”

She saw the moment Regina registered her words, surprise writing itself on her face, almost -but not quite- erasing the softness, the eagerness, that Emma had seen on the older woman all night long.

Was it that bad? She questioned, her other hand squeezing her beer as tightly as possible, her thumb tightly pressed against the rim of the glass, her nail digging onto her skin. Was it that bad to want? To dream? To wish?

She saw the same questions on Regina’s eyes, on the way the older woman moved forward, her scent stronger now around her, her magic crackling through her hair, locks Emma wanted to touch, to run her fingers through. She licked her lips, tasting drops of beer she hadn’t caught and saw Regina doing the same, eyes darkening and music, yet again, raising, blinding them.

Regina kissed her, her hands quickly moving from Emma’s hands to her wrists; a sudden rush of magic cursing through Emma, coiling around her sex, before the older woman touch rose towards her shoulders, her right hand detouring and massaging her breast over her clothing, nails of the other hand raking through her neck, kiss deepening as Emma moaned.

And then, the music was gone and Regina’s lips were too, the memory of a whisper, of a “later” Emma found herself nodding at the last thing she carried with her as Snow turned, eyes flashing and far too gone to see how close Regina was from her.

Mind reeling, she finished her beer, choosing not to see Aesop glancing at her, a smile on his face and a shake of his head. No one would know, no one would hear.

Not for now.


	8. Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by orahlee back on tumblr

There were always there, a tremor in the air whenever they looked at each other, magic on their fingertips and a new baddie to defeat. At first, they were soft, almost imperceptible and Regina found that she preferred them that way; an inch too far, a step away.

However, as months passed, they started to become stronger, forming words on her ears, speaking to her of a life she could have, one she wanted to have, every time she locked gazes with Emma. She could hear the bubbling of her magic becoming stronger as well, stranger to her as it changed, as it evolved and she found that she didn’t quite hate it, didn’t really despise it.

At the end, however, it became screams, loud voices that told her of a story that seemed to turn even more improbable as Emma changed in front of her; her buoyancy mellowing, the green on her eyes dimming until it became so close to grey Regina found herself wanting to cry out how no one seemed to be seeing that.

By the time that happened the screams were always there, words of wishes she realized that had steadily been growing inside of her, painting dreams she very much desired to be able to truly touch. She found herself almost succumbing to them when she gave her farewell to the Queen, the decision one that felt wrong the moment her other her disappeared, turning into dust.

A decision that proved to be the wrong one the moment she looked at herself, at that other her who stared at her with pity, one she wanted to destroy. The whispers returned to their almost invisible state during those weeks but the stories they told kept being far too strong.

She almost kissed Emma the day they freed themselves form the mirror; part of the blonde’s fight returning that day. She stared, mute, as Emma turned and left, fire all but disappearing the moment her hand touched his chest.

Jaw locked, Regina kept on, whispers getting louder the longer she tried to ignore them. Slipping into her dreams, she woke again and again during skin drenched in sweat.

Ultimately, she gave up to them, to the truths they said, to the feelings they evoked.

After all, how many times she could pretend she wasn’t in love with Emma Swan?


	9. Needles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asked by waknatious back at tumblr

Regina swallowed, looking at the offending needle and half wishing to banish it from existence. The lights felt too bright on the white room and, as she tried to look at anything else than the syringe, she felt a warm hand on her forearm, just an inch above the strap they had fastened around her arm. The strap felt rubbery and cold but the hand -Emma’s, her mind told her, remembering the blonde had entered with her, all soft smiles and gentle nods- felt warm.

“You okay?”

Blinking away her resentment against the needle and throwing a look she hoped was welcoming enough to the slightly worried nurse, Regina nodded at Emma’s question, her voice reaching her through the slight nausea that had started to travel up her stomach and throat the moment the nurse had approached her, the moment of truth quite too close for her liking.

“I hate blood tests.” The growl made Emma chuckle, her hold on her only becoming stronger as the nurse -as calmly as possible- proceeded to tell her what she was going to do to her. Her voice, steady, made Regina close her eyes, hearing the crack on Emma’s chair as the blonde moved slightly back, letting the nurse softly put her index finger on where the needle would go.

“Count to three.” The idea didn’t seem that bad and so, with Emma’s aid, Regina started counting, the slight pain coming to her as soon as the last vowel had left her lips.

“See?” Emma’s green eyes glowed once Regina turned to them, all dispatched. “It wasn’t that difficult, was it?”

Regina didn’t answer as she, abandoning every single rule of what was meant to be proper, stuck out her tongue.


	10. Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by waknatious

The wolf stared back at Emma as the blonde locked her jaw, knuckles white on the steering wheel she was clasping, whole body tense under the moonlight beams. Pearly white teeth gleaming, the wolf opened its jaws, the red tongue lolling out of its mouth as it did so. The smell of ozone reached Emma’s nose and she winced, feeling her magic burn blazingly inside her chest, beating alongside her heart.

She was running out of time, she needed…

“Emma?”

Regina’s voice reached for her, pulling her away from the nightmare’s clutches and returning her to their shared bed and the sheets that were now pooled at her feet, nervous sparks still sizzling on her skin from where her magic had answered to her call.

“It’s just a dream.” The whispered words made her exhale as she closed her eyes, feeling Regina’s warmth envelop her.

Outside, the moon blinked.


	11. Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by waknatious

Tilting her head, Emma stared pensively to the few slips she had been asked to re-plant on the backyard. Knees already stained with soil and beads of sweat beginning to form on her brow, the woman let out a sigh before crackling her neck, wondering why she had even say yes to this.

Her answer was quickly answered with a hand on her uncovered shoulders which made her remember that the sun was probably leaving already red marks on where the tank top she wore didn’t reach. The hand, however, felt blessedly cold on her skin and she relaxed on it as a rumbling chuckle could be heard a few millimeters away from her ear.

“Need any help?”

Turning and staring at Regina who, of course, looked as put together as she had seemed that morning on their usual coffee at Granny’s; not one hair out of place. Emma tried her best to do her own impression of the other’s arched brow she used to receive so often but, noticing Regina’s lips beginning to tremble, she stopped, shrugging and turning back to the slips; crouching on the soil while she was at it.

“Perhaps.” She admitted, feeling Regina’s magic around her as the woman took a few steps, her high heels coming into view.

That was the reason, she mentally answered herself as Regina twisted her hand, letting her powers envelop her and change her clothing, sun blinking above the two of them.

Not that she was going to tell the woman that.


	12. Incredulous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by brennareinvented back at tumblr

**Set on: The missing year; back when Emma drinks up the potion that restores her memory.**

* * *

 

The images run through her head, loud and clear and fixing the holes she hadn’t realized that were there.

_Liar._

She had known, she thought, her face a mask as she blinked, trying to fit every piece of information on her brain, the memories she had been gifted with accommodating others, the ones which she had delegated to be mere dreams. Dreams in where a set of brown eyes looked at her, trustingly. Dreams in where Henry…

The last bit made her swallow a bitter realization that made her tremble; Regina’s words reaching through time and space, making her think back on the moment she had stared at her, clouds enveloping her form, eyes never leaving the car until there hadn’t been any more fog and her memories…

“Gift.” She had said, grasping her hand, smiling at her. Emma had felt her arms itch for a hug, a need to tell the woman she had had in front of her how much she cared for her. How much she had worried as she had remained motionless in the middle of the road. Too pale, far too pale.

She hadn’t believed herself to be strong, brave enough. Nor had she thought that Regina would want to listen to her. Incredulous as she had been of magic being real, of power being real, of another life being possible, now as she blinked away the last threads of the Emma she had pretended to be for a year, she realized that she couldn’t keep with the charade.

“We need to go back.” Her mouth felt asleep, numb even as she swallowed and Hook smirked at her. Something, she thought, she didn’t cast a second thought to; her mind already lost on something else. On someone else.

She needed to believe, she thought, she had to.


	13. Undeniable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by brennareinvented

**Set on: The Queens of Darkness Arc**

* * *

 

Saying that she realized the moment she stared at Regina, breeze still carrying with it the smell of the Chernabog’s breath as every speck of it floated away, and the way she looked back with flushed cheeks and something terrifyingly tender glowing on the back of her eyes, would be a lie.

She had known for a long time what she felt on the nights she had enough free time to reflect on the nightmares she had had through the missing year back at New York, on the way her chest had burst open the moment she had seen Regina staring back at her at Granny’s, the same kind of warmth on her eyes as Emma tried her best not to blush.

She could lie, she thought as she approached her, forgetting for a moment the two women waiting for them at the other side of the town line. She could pretend that she wasn’t feeling what she did, beating and whispering the truth she now felt looking at her from every crook and shadow the trees around them casted on the crackled road.

She could turn and pretend she didn’t want the woman she had in front of her. It was, she thought, lips threatening to part into a small, a stupid, stupid idea.

It was, after all, undeniable that she had fallen in love with the former queen a very long time ago.

Saying that Regina expected the kiss would be a lie as well. Or maybe not.


	14. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by A-REGAL-ARRANGEMENT back at tumblr

“You are late.” Granny’s voice reached Emma as the blonde paid for the food, sweat forming on her brow. She, Emma thought with a groan, was right. She was later than usual and the few patrons on the dinner threw some sympathetic looks at her direction. Glancing at her clock and impatiently waiting for Granny to give her change back, Emma fished out her car keys from her pocket, holding the now warm metal between her fingers as Granny stared pointedly at them. “No magic?”

“I still have problems with… focusing.” Emma felt reluctant on admitting that, every fiber of her being feeling that, if she wasn’t good enough, she would end up disappointing the woman she had in front of her. An old thought she had been slowly fighting against ever since she had begun with her magic lessons.

Regina would be proud, she thought. As well as Archie. The image the former’s name brought with it, however, made her wince and pick up her lunch and Regina’s before running through the door. The clock tower chimed above her, time as relentless as ever.

How much she wished for the clock to remain silent. At least for five more minutes.

By the time she reached the mayoral office she was not only late but later than usual and, as she made her way past the haze-like halls, she picked her phone with angry movements, wishing -not for the first time- that her father would actually commit to his shifts instead of arriving later than she had asked him to do. Feeling slightly murderous, she knocked twice on the main office, casting a shy smile to the secretary next to the door and barely having a second of respite before the door opened.

The tang of ozone filled the air, sparks of purple cascading down the wood.

“I’m sorry.” She begun as soon as she entered into the room, still warm food on her arms. “Leroy called and my father wasn’t there… I…”

Stopping mid-sentence, Emma halted, realizing for the first time the quite revealing ensemble Regina was wearing, smirk on her lips as a click on the now closed door told the blonde that the two of them had been effectively locked away from the world.

“We will talk later.” She mumbled, eliciting a chuckle form the former queen. One she fumbled to taste, feeling the rush of magic touching her skin the moment she let it permeate the walls that surrounded her mind; purple and dirty white visible through her half-closed eyelids.

“I like that idea.”


	15. Euphoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asked by forgotmysafeword back at tumblr

“Emma?”

The blonde stopped, not daring to move a muscle, not feeling up to even turn, glance at her back and see if, finally, her mind had started its descent into madness.

The voice, however, was too perfect, the way her name seemed to have been divided in two; slightly breathier at the end. It held the warmth she remembered, the closeness she wished for and so, afraid but still hopeful, Emma turned.

Her footsteps echoing on the wet road, pools beneath her, the blonde felt the chill that had been stuck inside of her ever since she had started roaming the streets, asking for a woman she wasn’t sure existed anymore like she had met her once, leave her body and dissipate on the grey-hued light that reflected on a set of brown eyes she knew well.

She couldn’t help the smile that parted her lips, nor the two steps she took towards her, one arm extended, the echo of a laughter trapped on her chest. She couldn’t help but wish to grasp Regina’s hands with her own, feel the magic, which had transformed into something she solely linked to Regina, bubbling a millimeter away.

She felt drunk, she realized as she saw Regina’s smile answer hers, a quick moment she wasn’t sure they would later on talk about. Like the hundreds of times Emma had wished to be strong, brave enough to ask for something else, something more, than just friendship. Still, she thought, she savored every second of it; from the brunette’s smile to the way her fingers did yield as she grasped them, leaving her breathless as a rush run through her.

“I’ve missed you.” She found herself admitting, a shy smile appearing on her lips.

“So did I.” Came the reply and Emma knew it was true.


	16. Guitar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by emakaylee

Strumming her fingers along the strings of the guitar, Emma nursed the instrument closer to her chest as she accommodated its weight. It felt awkward for a moment; the notes raising tremulously.

However, old, almost forgotten classes given by an older boy in one of the many foster homes, returned to her. His gentle smile guided her fingers as she turned to the headstock, tuning each string in a movement that was still too slow and yet as familiar as ever. The neck of the guitar answered accordingly as she tried again, the notes clearer now while she begun to almost tiptoe with both her index and ring finger a slow ascending line through the strings. Not catchy enough to be considered music and still something that made her smile proudly.

“Will you play something for me?”

Regina’s voice brought her back to the present, wrap paper still at her feet and cold Christmas morning at the other side of the closed windows. The brunette’s eyes were warm, however, and Emma found herself biting softly on her bottom lip before nodding, feeling younger all of a sudden, the impulse on kissing the former queen growing as the older woman chuckled, still dressed in her nighttime clothes, soft lines on her usually sharp and crisp angles.

“One day.” She promised, voice soft.

“Excellent.”


	17. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> asked by waknatious

It begun from the tips of her toes; the current strong and potent as it moved, waking every nerve and muscle as she felt them twitch, answer to the calling of the power that now started to spread through her blood stream, coiling on her knees before reaching even higher.

Her stomach went next, filling itself with a thousand flutters that resulted into sparks forming on the pads of her fingers, cascading down softly, light floating away from her, cold to the touch and yet leaving behind a somehow warm feeling she felt her whole being asking more for. She smiled the moment her lungs filled with the wisps of power, her heart feeling lighter as the current kept on climbing, reaching for her shoulders, her forearms, her neck. She could feel the sparks just behind her eyes, sparkling on her lips; jumping beneath her tongue.

She could feel it on the back of her throat, a tight knot that eased up; fizzy and leaving behind a fleeting aftertaste she tried to chase as she closed her eyes, her upper body trembling as a chill run through her back. Sex clenching and the ghost of a caress on the nape of her neck, Emma gave herself to the magic, a single breath escaping her lips as Regina moved backwards; ending a kiss the blonde found herself wanting to repeat.

Power discharged, her magic retreated, a shade of purple illuminating Regina’s eyes, Emma kissed her a second time.

“Hi.”

Regina chuckled.

“Hello.”


	18. Oblivious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asked by HowCanThisBe

It all started with Leroy and a cup full of coffee that ended up on Emma’s lap the second the blonde entered into Granny’s, eyes on Regina and hand already raised to wave at the older woman. Ruby was able to see the arch the coffee made, the splash, sudden cry and Grumpy’s mumbled excuses what filled her senses for the next couple of minutes as she rushed towards Emma’s side, noticing Regina’s perfume following but staying a few feet away, eyes positively making a whole on Ruby’s skull as the werewolf turned slightly, her hands already going to Emma’s tank top, trying -as well as the blonde- to halt the spreading stain.

“You are paying her coffee Leroy.” The dwarf shrugged and went to ask for a second coffee, steaming with rage but not daring to raise his voice at the blonde or at the lanky brunette. Which, Ruby thought, sighing and hands lowering as Emma played with the hem of the top, the fabric almost seeming to be glued to her skin, was something she welcomed. She really didn’t want to deal with the mercuric dwarf.

Speaking of mercuric, Regina’s face was almost scarlet the moment Ruby took a step backwards, telling Emma that she was going to pick up a towel as Emma’s infructuous magic sigils did nothing but leave the patch of fabric even worse than what it already was.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Regina’s voice rose, her brow furrowed and eyes already sparkling purple. In a second, the stain was gone, tank top as white as ever.

“Regina, I could kiss you right now.” Emma’s words were met with a gulp, a thud as Regina sat back on her booth and something close to a snicker from both Leroy and Ruby’s own throat.

Ruby hid her smirk while turning away from both Emma and Regina, the blonde still blinking, completely lost on Regina’s slight blush or the way the former queen’s gaze seemed glued to the surface of the booth’s table.

For things like this, the werewolf thought, hearing strained so she was able to hear Regina’s barely concealed cough and Emma’s obviously concerned question of whether she had not picked up the flue that seemed to be dancing around Henry’s class, she was glad she kept on returning home. So she could see these two being their oblivious selves.


	19. Languid

****

Hands tingling, she could feel her muscles aching as she tried to borrow a few more minutes of sleep. Laughing softly when she began to feel fingers dancing at her back, painting lines that were erased with intricated new ones. Emma sighed contently, feeling the sunrays on her face, forcing her to narrow them as she, finally, blinked them open.

Turning, she found Regina staring at her, smirk on her lips and leaning on her right shoulder. Her left hand hovered between them, a clear culprit of her caresses, a spark of purple still glowing to the morning sun.

“Took you long enough.”

Regina’s voice was hoarse and Emma chuckled as she scooted closer, her arm circling the brunette’s waist and pressing her own palm to the naked skin of the older woman. She could also feel her magic reacting to Regina’s, the buzzing on her fingers easing as she stared at the brown eyes that, devoid of the sleepy blurriness Emma still had on hers, looked back at her with a knowing glow on them.

“I was exhausted.”

Smirk turning into a satisfied smile, Regina feigned confusion while sliding her left leg between Emma’s, a chuckle echoing on the room as Emma groaned, not at all prepared for that.

“I wonder why.”

The blonde was about to answer when Regina sighed and tilted her head, catching her lips with hers and kissing her properly, teeth forgone and tongue asking for Emma’s to answer her. Which the blonde did.

“Good morning.” She whispered, breathless, once they parted. Stealing another peck from her, Regina nodded.

“Good morning.”


	20. Comfortable

 

Henry fumbled with the camera a little bit more before nodding to himself, smiling at the people waiting for him as he managed to get the right angle for the picture.

“I think I got it.”

His younger counterpart scoffed something that could have been _“So did you say the last three times.”_ as Lucy snickered at his side-seated as well as him on the floor-. Both Snow and Charming smiled beatifically at their oldest grandson while holding Neal’s hands, the two of them front and center on the couch at their house, where the dinner they had just had still showed on the empty, dirty plates that had been unceremoniously hidden from the camera angle as soon as Henry had taken it out.

Chuckling alongside with Lucy, Emma moved slightly on her own place. She was at one side of the couch, Hope on her lap and a telling blank spot at her side, the usual hand on her shoulder gone as well as a certain ring on her finger. Which, the back of her mind told her as she tried to school her features enough for Henry to take the picture, was for the best.

Any kind of doubts she could have had, disappeared as Regina caressed Hope’s pudgy arms the moment the girl began to growl restless.

“No, no.” The brunette softly muttered to the toddler. “We need to stay still for a little more, yes? And then you will be able to go to play. I promise.”

Emma was certain the toddler hadn’t been able to understand a single word of what Regina had told her but she stilled on her lap, hands bunching up the fabric of the dress Snow had just put her in. A dress Emma had already planned on burning the second they arrived to their new flat. Neon pink? What was her mother on?

“I was also talking to you, you know.”

Regina’s mirthful voice woke her up from her thought, an easy smile already spreading her lips as she looked at the older woman’s eyes. She looked gorgeous, Emma thought as she stared at the new cut Regina sported; a mix of the mayor she had once known and the royal woman she was and had the sudden necessity to tell her that even if she had already said as much the moment she had crossed the house threshold and had found her already helping Snow with the food.

“I promise I will behave so I can play later then.” It came flirtier than intended and a part of Emma was happy that Lucy’s ears weren’t near. The kid had a blast whenever she caught Regina and Emma herself talking.

Not seemingly all that flustered, Regina chuckled and winked at her as she faced Henry, the man already staring at them in something that felt like a warning.

“I hope you let me play with you then, Miss Swan.”

The picture was taken a few seconds after that, with Henry barely making to his spot at Ella’s side and Lucy and his young counterpart blatantly eyeing Emma and Regina who, perhaps not all that blindly, were holding hands while shyly glancing at each other; Hope a perfectly still toddler and Snow and Charming oblivious to everything else.

It became Emma’s favorite picture.


	21. Angry

 

 

The smell of slightly humid straw didn’t deter Emma as she opened the door of the stables, the neighing of the horses the only thing she heard for a moment until her ears habituated to the sound: Regina’s silhouette at the furthest booth becoming clearer as she stepped inside.

The brunette was talking to the black horse Emma knew was hers, her voice a murmur that didn’t stop even if she was sure Regina had already heard her enter.

“They told me you would be there.” Her voice echoed strangely on the wooden walls of the building and, for a second, Regina’s shoulders just squared, seeming to be wondering whether to answer her or not. “The guards, I mean.”

Finally turning with a sigh, brush on her right hand, Regina smiled briefly at the horse as it pawed the ground. Emma eyed it, still all not accustomed to the horses that now seemed to be everywhere after the union of all the realms. Despite of her uneasiness, Emma took a few steps forward, eyeing Regina’s tired face. The brunette’s eyes were stormy and the circles around them told the blonde more than enough. Closing the distance, she touched the other woman’s forearm, feeling the discharge of magic coming from her.

“Is this about the nobles?”

Grunting, Regina let out the brush and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was a politician, she had said a few nights before, back at Aesop, slightly tipsier than she would probably want and hands up in the air, had been for more than three decades. Dealing with nobles that didn’t help her case at all whenever she tried to implement upgrades on all the realms was not only getting tedious but infuriating.

“I can always punch them.” The cockiness on Emma’s face made Regina scoff, some of her anger receding as she looked up to the smiling blonde. “It’s been a while since I last did that.”

Shaking her head, Regina nibbled her bottom lip. As much as she wanted to send a legion of fireballs on the direction of those sleazy little men, she knew better.

“I doubt that will look well on your resume as a savior dear.”

It was Emma’s turn to scoff as Regina knelt, picking up the brush and leaving on its rightful place.

“As if I cared, Regina.” Rolling her eyes, the older woman squeezed Emma’s hand and turned towards the closed door. She had spent too much time there already.

“I do.” She reminded her, only to be answered by two arms circling her waist, a quick peck on her shoulder somehow hiding her surprised squeal.

“Well, I don’t. I can always be with you on your next reunion, yes? I will even bring my new sword. Henry can take care of Hope meanwhile.”

Turning on the blonde’s embrace, Regina eyed her, anger completely melt from her eyes, magic at ease once again.

“You will get bored.” She warned, smile refusing to leave her lips.

“I won’t.” Emma’s laughter was infectious. “I will be at my best behavior, I promise.”

Regina shook her head but nodded, grin still on her lips. Disentangling herself from Emma’s grip, she opened the stable’s door.

“You are worse than a child.” She said as Emma followed her, eyes narrowed at the change of lighting.

“That’s why you love me.”


End file.
